Young Love
by SkitteryIdol
Summary: Les has never felt like this before. How does this girl manage to bring out the best in him?
1. First Sight

"I can't believe we're doing this."

"Davey, there's real bad headlines today, and the weather ain't that great either. We need the kid to help sell our papes," Jack argued.

"Yeah but do we really need him this much?" David asked. "I mean, Jack, he's making us take him to the park. THE PARK!"

"You know just 'cause I'm walking a little ahead of you," Les stopped suddenly and turned to Jack and David. "Doesn't mean I can't hear you."

"We can say what we want Les," his brother snapped.

"He's right. Just be glad we're takin' ya to the park," Jack agreed.

Les ignored their comments and kept walking. "The only reason you agreed to take me," he said smugly. "Is because I said I wouldn't help you sell papes if you didn't."

Jack and David had nothing to say to that. They had to admit, Les was pretty smart for his age.

* * *

"Well, we did what we had to do," Jack said.

"I guess so."

The two boys were sitting on a bench in a local park. Watching Les play around on a rather small jungle gym wasn't exactly their idea of fun, but they had no choice.

"Hey look, there's some little goil goin' ta play on the jungle gym," Jack pointed out.

"Hmm," Davey thought out loud. "Maybe Les'll finally make a friend his age."

* * *

Les reached the top landing of the jungle gym. He stood before the opening of the tunnel slide, and was ready. He was ready to feel multiple electric shocks running through his arms. Ready to see _Jessica + Bill 4 Ever_ scribbled neatly with a red Sharpie. Ready for the possibility of getting stuck inside the slide – but also ready for the sensation of having woodchips in his shoes from falling to the park ground.

But Les put all of these trivial thoughts aside, and sat at the top of the slide. He pushed himself down, and when he landed at the bottom, he was staring at a girl.

She wore a plain lavender sundress, with a white satin ribbon tied around her waist. Her curly brown hair hung just above her shoulders, and she had a mile-wide smile.

Les suddenly snapped back into reality, and realized that the girl was coming toward him. Once she arrived, she said, "Hi!"

"Hi!" Les replied.

"What's your name?"

"Les. You?"

"Holly."

Les thought that was a rather pretty name, but he didn't say it out loud.

"So um…" Les started. "Would you like to play tag?"

"OK!" Holly happily answered.

* * *

"Wow, it sure does look like they're having fun," David said.

"Yup. Too bad they'll probably never see each other again," Jack retorted.

"Whad'you mean?"

"Well, New York City's huge, and this is just some girl he met in a park. What're the chances he'll ever see her again?"

"Jack, why do you always have to be so God damn negative?"

"That's just the kinda guy I am. Turn you on?"

"What?"

"Never mind."

* * *

"I got you!" Holly said.

"No you didn't!" Les replied as he kept running. "I didn't feel – whoah!"

Les had tripped over a rock and fallen into a pile of leaves. He and Holly began to laugh. Then Holly walked over to Les and plopped down next to him in the leaves.

After they stopped laughing, Holly turned in the leaves to look at Les. "I had a lot of fun today," she said.

"Me too," Les agreed. He liked this girl. A lot. Laying in the leaves, he suddenly realized how pretty she was. Her hazel eyes seemed to laugh as they looked into his. Her brunette locks shone brightly in the sunlight. Then a thought unexpectedly popped into Les's head.

_Wait, is this what they call a crush? When you like some girl, like Holly, as more than just a friend? Wow! I have a crush on Holly! **I have a crush on Holly!**_

Les was so proud. He felt like jumping out of the leaves and shouting it from the top of the jungle gym. But there was no time for that now. He had heard from the newsies that when you like a girl, you have to 'make a move'. Les was surprised to find more thoughts trailing into his head.

_Well, better go for it. What have I got to lose?_

"Holly?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you – would you be my girlfriend?"

"Love to."

**AN: So? Whad'ya think? I probably shouldn't be starting another story while I'm still in the middle of my other one, but I had so many ideas for this and I couldn't wait to write them all down! But it doesn't stop here – there will be more to come. I'm pretty sure there'll be three chapters. So I guess it's a… three-shot. R&R!**


	2. She Understands

"So I met this goil last night," Mush was saying. "And she was real nice ya know? Pretty too."

"Yeah?" Kid Blink questioned. "What's her name?"

"Uhh… that's not important. The point is that I think there might be somethin' between us."

"Uh huh, somethin' between youse. I see," Race taunted.

The boys all laughed and started elbowing Mush. They were taking a break from their hard day of selling, having lunch at Tibby's. The newsies were all enjoying themselves, just eating at tables scattered throughout the restaurant and talking.

"I met a girl yesterday too!" Les exclaimed.

"Oh really?" Mush asked, stirring up the competition.

"Yup! And I know her name!"

"You mean that girl you played with in the park yesterday?" David asked his brother.

"Yeah. Her name was Holly. She's my girlfriend." The boys all cracked up at this.

"Sure she is," Jack said. "Dream on little guy."

"No she really is! I'm not lying!" Les defended.

"Look Les, we all know that you're too young to have a real girlfriend," David said.

"Am not!"

"Are too."

"You guys never believe me about anything! And it's only because I'm younger than you!" Les shouted, standing up and pushing his chair back. "So if you're not going to listen to anything I say, I might as well just leave!"

Les ran out of the restaurant and down the street until he reached the end of the block. He sat down on the curb and rested his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. This happened too much. He couldn't participate in conversations with the older newsies because he didn't have as much 'experience' as them. Snipeshooter was probably his best newsie friend.

"Les, what's wrong?" he heard someone behind him say. He turned around and saw that it was Holly. His face lit up when he saw her, and he felt better just with her standing behind him.

She sat down on the curb next to Les, and put her arm around him, resting her head on his shoulder. "Well, whatever it is, I'm sure everything's going to be fine."

Les let a faint smile come to his face. He never thought it would be so simple for someone to make him feel better. "It's just that, a lot of the time I feel left out when I'm around the other newsies," he started to explain to her. "They're all so much older than me. They make me feel like I don't know anything."

"Oh, I see what you're saying," Holly comforted him. "Just know that you should never feel that way around me."

Les turned to her and smiled. "I know."

"Hey, I've got an idea," Holly said, lifting her head up. "How about we visit the park again?"

Les gave a small laugh. "Sounds like fun."

**AN: It's short, but oh well. Hopefully you can see that Holly and Les are very comfortable around each other. I was having some difficulties posting the document for this, but eventually I figured it out. Anyway, I'll have chapter 3 up soon enough! It will be the last chapter! So please tell me what you think so far. R&R!**


	3. Back Again

"Holly, thanks for stopping to talk to me."

"No problem! I didn't want to see you sad like that."

Les and Holly had been talking to each other for the full distance to the park. They talked about everything from TV, to elephants, to newspaper selling. As they walked beside each other, Holly kept thinking about what her and Les were supposed to do now that they were officially 'boyfriend and girlfriend'. Neither of them really had experience in the department. Suddenly, Holly remembered a day when she had seen her sister and her boyfriend holding hands as they walked, and knew what the next step was.

She carefully edged her hand towards Les'. When their hands touched, both of them slightly jerked away, but then relaxed. Carefully, they tried again, and let their fingers intertwine. Holly immediately felt a little safer once they became comfortable with the new sensation.

They walked the single block there was left to get to the park in silence, only smiling at each other every few moments. Finally they reached the open grassy area, with the small jungle gym planted in the middle of the woodchips.

"So what should we do?" Les asked.

"I don't know," Holly responded. They had a serious dilemma. They had never been to the park without an adult before. Knowing that there must be something different about the situation, they stood on the grass, trying to think of what to do.

After about five seconds, Les ran to the jungle gym, and began to climb the ladder to the highest platform on the whole play set. Holly looked on with amusement as he reached the top. Les got to his feet, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "I have a crush on Holly!"

Holly laughed and shouted back to him, "A crush? You're my boyfriend!" Then she ran to the jungle gym and began climbing the ladder herself. "You know what my favorite thing to do here is?" she said on her way up.

"What?"

"Go down the tunnel slide!" This had to be one of the most fun things someone her age could think of doing, and she and Les were very excited as they stepped over to the opening of the slide.

Les sat down first, and Holly sat behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"Ready?" Les asked.

"Yeah!"

Les pushed them down the slide. Then he suddenly thrust his arms out and stopped them right in the middle of the tunnel.

"Why'd you stop?" Holly asked. Les looked up at the top surface of the slide. Holly followed his gaze, and then realized why he had stopped. They were looking at _Jessica + Bill 4 Ever_ scribbled with a red Sharpie. "But we don't have a marker, do we?" Holly said.

Les smiled to himself and reached into his pocket, still holding them in the middle of the slide with one arm. He took out a regular black marker, and handed it behind him to Holly. _Crayola_ was printed on the side.

Holly reached up and very carefully wrote _Les + Holly 4 Ever_ in her best handwriting, right next to _Jessica + Bill 4 Ever_.

Les knew that their marking would last a long time, and he hoped for the same thing to happen with him and Holly's relationship. But he really wanted to seal it with something special. So he turned around, looked Holly straight in the eye, and leaned in for his very first kiss.

**AN: So that's it! It's done! Finito! I really hope you enjoyed it, and I also really hope you want to tell me what you think! R&R!**


End file.
